


The Many Tales of Hope and Despair

by Arcadian



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 14:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16976460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadian/pseuds/Arcadian
Summary: You didn't think the games and anime were all that happened, did you? What about the real school life before despair wreaked havoc on the world? How about possible alternate realities? Characters from across the series interacting with one another as never seen inside the franchise? Well, do we ever have you covered here! Upupupu~'The Many Tales of Hope and Despair' is a series of short ficlets about the characters in the Dangan Ronpa series. Here there be platonic and romantic relationships, tales of hope and despair, and everything in-between! Only characters and settings from the first game will pop up at first, and then characters from the rest of the series will be thrown into the mix. All chapters will have the pairing or characters involved noted at the very beginning of the chapters or the chapter names.Chapter One: a Naegi/Maizono tale of second thoughts and of the future.





	The Many Tales of Hope and Despair

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back, and I've decided to start a drabble/ficlet series on Danganronpa. I started playing the games early last year, and I was consumed by it. I love the series a lot, and I'm getting back into playing the games. So I decided, why not write about ships, fluff, angst, and just general shenanigans?
> 
> As a side note, chapters will have abbreviations depending on if they're shippy or just platonic, and whether they're canon or in a non-despair AU (that is, an alternate universe where Junko never plunges the world into despair, generally future stuff).
> 
> "S" means ship, "P" means platonic, "C" means canon and "ND" means Non-Despair AU. (as a further thing, saying Naegi/Maizono means that they're the pairing here. if I were to put Naegi&Maizono it means it's just those two being platonic.)
> 
> As far as this chapter goes, I ship NaeZono quite a bit, but I also understand that it's a slightly problematic ship for a number of reasons. I feel this delves into a fairly major one. I hope you enjoy it!

Glancing at her phone, Sayaka read the text from Makoto again.

_'You still want me to come over today?'_

She put her phone back down and rested her head on her pillow. The answer was obvious, but she started to really have second thoughts about their relationship. It wasn't hard to see why, of course; she was an idol, and idols had strict guidelines and regulations thrust upon them. They were expected to follow them to the letter. Any deviation would cause them to be ousted from ever being one again - and if that were to happen, would she even still be able to retain her title as the SHSL Idol?

Their relationship, as a result, was secret. Top secret. Nobody could know, not even their best friends. Even rumors had to be stopped as soon as they'd spawn, and even before all this there were occasional ones about how much time the two spent together. For Sayaka, this was easy; she was good at hiding her feelings, and very few people would dare to label her as a liar. Makoto, being Makoto, was a lot worse at hiding his thoughts, but despite his feelings for Sayaka being an almost obvious fact, everyone thought that Sayaka was romantically way out of his league. That, quite frankly, made things a lot easier.

But idols _couldn't_ be in a relationship. It was dangerous, and stupid, to attempt to hide that kind of thing from others. So why, then? Why were they in a relationship? Her thoughts drifted to earlier that week...

\--

Both their faces were red as they pulled away from the kiss. Was it a moment of weakness, or did they have to accept that this was inevitable? They'd been studying for hours, and laughing and chatting, just like they always did when they hung out. Nobody questioned why Makoto was in Sayaka's dorm, or vice versa, simply because they knew the two helped each other out before tests. Their fingers were lightly intertwined, as they stared into one another's eyes.

Neither were sure who initiated it, but neither could deny that the kiss was mutual. Even as friends, they were close. Ever since Sayaka had approached Makoto during the welcoming ceremony, they'd become friends and started hanging out regularly for months. But now...

"M-Maizono-san..." Makoto stammered out. "W-Was that..."

Sayaka slowly pulled her hand back from his, looking down. "Y-Yes... Naegi-kun, I... I don't know if..."

"If what?"

"I don't know i-if we should've done that..." Sayaka folded her hands together. "I mean--"

Makoto tilted his head slightly. "Why not? Do you--"

"Of course I do." Sayaka's answer lacked any hesitation. "O-Of course I... like you. And I know you... like me." She took a breath. "But... Naegi-kun, you know who I am... you know _what_... I am. Idols... can't date. _We_ can't date."

"Maizono-san..." He tried to take one of her hands in his again, fumbling his words a little in the effort. "I-I'm not saying we should. I get it. I don't want to mess things up for you."

And she smiled that smile again, the smile that warmed his heart. "I know you don't. You're too kind to me. And I know you'd never want to force anything between us... I just..." She paused. "It was a moment of weakness, that's all." She pursed her lips. "For both of us." And yet, she was running her thumb across the back of his hand still.

"Y-Yeah..." Pulling his hand back again, he stood up off her bed. "I think I should go. We can talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay..." As he started to leave, her smile started to fade, feeling more and more fake. And, in a motion that she could only describe as another moment of weakness, she jumped off the bed and walked over to stop Makoto. "W-Wait, Naegi-kun... I think we... could try."

"Wh-what?" Stunned by the sudden change of heart, he turned to face her. "Are you sure? I don't want this to hurt our friendship."

She shook her head, her response coming out slowly but with certainty. "It won't. I... I won't let it. But... if we do this... you have to promise to keep it secret. Okay? Nobody can know." This was something she'd wanted for a while, and somehow, she couldn't stop herself from going after it.

"... Okay. If you're sure." He took a breath before continuing. "And if either of us feels like it's getting to be too much... we can just be friends. No matter what, okay?"

She nodded. "Of course. No matter what, we'll always be friends..."

\--

Of course. This happened because they both wanted it to. Nothing more, nothing less. She took one step, and he took the next one with her. But it was still dangerous... what if someone found out? Dorm rooms were fairly private, and doors were generally locked for safety reasons. But everything could go to crap, and her life would be over.

Her life... she belonged with her group, that much she knew. She could never give that life up, even with the feelings she had for Makoto. But she also couldn't deny how hard she fell for the boy. Her feelings for him were the only reason she'd decided to take the risk. Because she felt he was worth that risk, at that moment in time. Even if they kept the relationship going until they graduated, she'd have to end it then. And if she felt the risk became too great, she'd have to end it before that.

But... she also knew she wouldn't be able to be an idol forever. Nobody is. And when that day came, as much as it would pain her to leave that life behind... if she could, she would gladly spend another life with him.

Picking up her phone, she finally texted him back. _'Yeah. Come on over.'_ She'd already gotten ready for the day, and, being Saturday, there were no classes. They'd likely spend the day together around campus, where it was safe to walk together.

She didn't know what the future held for them. After all, they still had a year and a half of Hope's Peak Academy left, but--

Hearing knocking from her door, she walked over and opened it. "Hi, Naegi-kun." And she pulled him inside and shut the door.

"Hi, Maizono-san. How're you?" He had that goofy grin on again, and it made her giggle as she pulled him into a kiss.

\--But that was more than enough time for them to leave the more complicated stuff for later.

"Now that you're here? I'm doing just fine."

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you wish! Also, if you want to give me a prompt for platonic ficlets or even ship ones (I can't guarantee I ship things and I won't write for a ship I don't ship because I don't feel that I'd be able to put my all into it, sorry!) you can do that in a comment too!
> 
> Ships I definitely have from the first game are: Naegi/Maizono, Naegi/Asahina, Naegi/Kirigiri, Naegi/Ikusaba, Kuwata/Maizono, Maizono/Asahina. I have no other pairings for Naegi in terms of the first game.


End file.
